Hi soulsonic
I have an American friend who moved here 3 years ago - he is a senior lecturer in painting at the Canterbury University Scool Of Fine Arts ( and also a GREAT blues harp player and good singer ).
He too is embarrassed by the current American government, and has very strong views and beliefs.
His grandmother was a full bloodied Cherokee indian - his father a white man - an interesting mix!
We usually get together most friday nights at his Painting Studio, along with two oher misfits like us, and play da blues and tell lies about our misspent youth.
He was in San Francisco in 1967, and knew all the bands around the bay area.
He sobered up in the early 80s, and became a very successful Art Critic as wel as a damn fine Artist. I count myself extremely lucky to have his friendship - he is a top guy Cheers
Steve
( just in case you think i am anti American )

Oh yes, you'll find many Americans with Indian blood mixed in - probably part of the reason why there's so few full-blooded Indians left.... well, that and the fact that for some reason our ancestors thought it a good idea to kill them all.

My family came to America in 1775 - it appears most likely as criminals kicked out of England. Since then, we've become a mix of just about everything European you can think of. All of us are WASPs with the exception of my Italian grandmother who's more Catholic than the Pope - she's certainly the minority at family get-togethers.......

Wait a minute! I thought this thread was about the Fuzz Factory?! Oh, now we've gone and derailed it hopelessly. The entire second page of this thread should probably be moved to the off topic section.

soulsonic wrote:That's the most embarassing thing about being an American right now; the world thinks ill of us because our government wants to cause all this trouble, and then they can't even do it right! If I'm to be a citizen of an Evil Empire, I would at least like it to be an Evil Empire that can actually accomplish it's goals! Ugh, it's such nonsense! I swear one day I'll move to Switzerland, or possibly Norway. Or how about Australia or NZ? We do have a common history of being populated by England's misfits, I'd probably fit right in.

Can I make one request of you my friend,
Please leave your politics out of this as not everyone sees things the same as you.
Do that and all will be fine.
Okay?

Thank you. I wouldn't mind in the least if the moderator just deleted everything in this thread that doesn't have to do with a Fuzz Factory. (hint, hint)
Don't even bother moving it - just delete it. It's not like any of it's important.

soulsonic wrote:I haven't really given much real indication regarding my actual political views, but don't worry, I'll keep them to myself - I'm sure people lacking a sense of humor would find them highly offensive.

I must have missed the humor in your statement.
I don't think you need to worry about anyone's sense of humor,
perhaps you should be concerned more about common sense.
And I agree, none of this should have been "here" in the first place.

What's your problem with what I said? I was just complaining that my government was incompetent.... when aren't people saying stuff like that? I was accusing them of being evil and then making fun of them for not doing a good job of being evil. So which is it that bothered you; that I accuse my government of being evil, or that I think it's sad that they can't do a good job of being evil?

The point was that I think it's wrong for a government to be evil, but also that it's absolutely pathetic when an "evil" government can't even be successful with it's "evil" schemes. To me, President Bush is like a cartoon super-villain who can't ever get anything right. I think it's funny.

So, what do I have wrong? Do you think it's bad for me to say negative things about my own country? I still think it's a nice place to live - I just really dislike the poor choices our government has made. In America, complaining about the government is a national hobby.

Hi guys- at the risk of this turning into another "when did it become bad to ....etc." post, please bear in mind that this is an international forum, with many differing political views.
If I could be so bold as to make a suggestion, why don't you ( soulsonic and markm) continue this North American political discussion with personal messages - nothing personal, you both have good stompbox skills to share, and you both are most welcome here on this forum

I'm content to let the whole thing drop. What suprises me is how often people get offended on these forums by political opinions.
Seriously.

In most places in America you can hang out at any cafe and argue all day long about politics and everyone can have a good laugh about it and still be friends at the end of the day. But on these forums...... I don't get it, I keep seeing these "keep your opinions to yourself..." comments and other almost threatening statements, like its wrong for someone to have an opinion. It seems strange that on internet forums where 90% of what's posted is nothing but opinion, when political opinions come up, all of a sudden people get anxious like it's verboten to discuss politics... like there's some kind of internet Gestapo that will come and take you away because you share unpopular political opinions.

I guess it's not my place to understand the motivations of others - though it is something my thoughts dwell on often.

Oh my God! Not even 2 minutes since I put up that last post, I'm looking at another thread and what do I see? A big advert for http://www.beatbushgear.com !
What the hell? I'm supposed to keep it cool with the politics and this very site is advertising left-wing political sites that specialize in merchandise which insults President Bush.
Seriously, I don't see how my political views could be considered minority opinions in any way. More than half the country despises Bush. His approval rating is lower than Nixon's was the day he resigned in disgrace. So who's the one with the screwy opinion? Not me. If anything, I have very mainstream opinions.

That's a good one!
I could put up with the President being like he is, but when his whole cabinet and staff is bad too.... that's where we get the real problems. I blame our education system for producing such woefully ignorant people. The last well-educated generation in our country is retiring and getting old.... we're in for some real trouble in the next 20 years.